Australian defence officials head to Washington as world watches possible US moves on Iran and Greenland

Senior Australian defence officials will hold meetings at the Pentagon this week as military tensions between the United States and Iran intensify, and President Donald Trump continues his push to seize the strategic territory of Greenland.

The Nightly can reveal Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty is leading a delegation for high-level talks in Washington which are primarily expected to focus on the AUKUS partnership and growing security concerns in the Indo-Pacific.

The visit comes at a busy time for the Trump administration in terms of security and its increasingly hawkish global outlook.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday revealed Iran had reached out to his administration and proposed negotiations after he threatened military action in response to Tehran’s lethal crackdown on protesters in the Middle Eastern nation.

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra that Australia was not considering providing any assistance or support role for the United States if it proceeds with strikes against Iran.

“We stand with the people of Iran, who are standing up for their human rights, standing up for their dignity, standing up for a change that is required. This is a regime that has oppressed its own people,” Mr Albanese said.

“This is a regime that’s cracking down on people protesting, and we don’t know what the real death toll is from people who have been either killed or injured for expressing their basic human rights”.

“What we do know is this is an oppressive regime that has played a bad role, not only for its people but a bad role internationally which is why I stood in this very courtyard and expelled the Iranian ambassador for the involvement of their agencies in attacks here.”

When speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, President Trump also doubled down on his push for the United States to take over Greenland, arguing it should acquire the Arctic territory and not lease it from NATO ally Denmark.

“Greenland should make the deal because Greenland does not want to see Russia or China take over. Basically, their defence is two dog sleds. You know that? You know what their defence is? Two dog sleds,” President Trump said.

“In the meantime, you have Russian destroyers and submarines, and China destroyers and submarines all over the place. We’re not going to let that happen, and if it affects NATO, then it affects NATO. But, you know, they need us more than we need them”.

Speaking in Perth on Monday, Federal Resources Minister Madeline King repeatedly refused to say what the Albanese government thought of President Trump’s statements towards Greenland.

“Administrations around the world say a lot of things. We won’t always necessarily agree with every single one of them, and I will leave the President to continue his ruminations. I’m sure he’s not listening so much to mine,” she said.

Mr Moriarty’s Washington delegation will follow a dinner hosted by Ambassador Kevin Rudd at his Washington residence on the weekend for the US Under Secretary for War Elbridge Colby, an outspoken AUKUS critic who last year launched a review of the nuclear submarine deal with Australia.

“Great to get together for dinner at our place with Bridge Colby, the US Under Secretary of War for Policy, his wife Susanna and Thérèse. The Australia-US alliance has never been stronger,” Ambassador Rudd wrote on social media.

US officials say Secretary Colby remains a deep sceptic of the AUKUS deal which is expected to see Australia acquire second-hand Virginia-class submarines from the United States in the 2030s.

One figure familiar with recent discussions involving Secretary Colby says the senior Pentagon official wants to pursue a greater commitment from Australia for more intensive and higher-level war planning in the event of a conflict with China over Taiwan.

In a statement, an Australian Defence Department spokesperson told The Nightly that it “engages widely and routinely with the United States across the breadth of our relationship, including on AUKUS and Alliance matters”.

“We are working closely with the Trump Administration to advance our shared interests and expand our cooperation,” the spokesperson said, while declining to confirm which officials Secretary Moriarty and his staff would meet with in Washington.

Dr Elizabeth Buchanan, a senior fellow at Washington’s Centre for the National Interest, believes there are now growing doubts in the Pentagon about the United Kingdom’s future role in the AUKUS submarine partnership.

“The UK has long been considered by stakeholders now behind desks in the Pentagon as a charity inclusion in the AUKUS framework, it is arguable what real capacity London brings to the table in 2026,” Dr Buchanan tells The Nightly.

Dr Buchanan, who leads a current US government funded project analysing America’s alliance interests, also believes that Greenland falling under Washington’s control would be in Australia’s national interest because of possible access to critical minerals.

Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is also making a lengthy visit to the United States this week to cement the bilateral alliance in the face of an increasingly severe security environment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Minister Koizumi says he will deliver a speech at the Honolulu Defence Forum in Hawaii on Monday before traveling to Los Angeles the following day and then to Washington, where he will meet with US counterpart Pete Hegseth on Thursday.

“With Secretary Hegseth, I plan to have a frank discussion about the security environment as well as specific efforts to strengthen the alliance’s deterrence and response capabilities further,” Koizumi told reporters in Japan ahead of his visit.